Arrangement for installing fascias,gravel stops and gutters along the edges of roofs



March 24, 1970 BERG 3,501,313

ARRANGEMENT FOR INSTALLING FASCIAS, GRAVE STOPS AND GUTTERS ALONG THE vEDGES OF ROOFS Original Filed A rils, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. EDWARD I BERG ARRANGEMENT FOR INSTALLING FASCIAS, GRAVEL STOPS AND GUTTERS ALONG THE EDGES OF HOOPS Original Filed April :3, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 24, 1970 E!- T. BERG 3,501,873

United States Patent 3,501,873 ARRANGEMENT FOR INSTALLING FASCIAS, GRAVEL STOPS AND GUTTERS ALONG THE EDGES 0F ROOFS Edward T. Berg, 187 Fremont St., San Francisco, Calif. 94105 Original application Apr. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 627,877, now Patent No. 3,432,976, dated Mar. 18, 1969. Divided and this application Aug. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 754,798 Int. Cl. E04d 13/04 US. CI. 5211 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An anchoring member for installing both gravel stops and fascias or gutters, along the edges of roots, comprising a bracket portion for attachment to the upper end of a wall, a neck portion slanting upwardly away from the upper end of the bracket portion, and secured to said neck portion a vertically disposed strip-shape support portion with a horizontally extending upper support edge and an inwardly turned anchoring lip along its bottom. The marginal area of gravel stop strips is formed to fit over the outside of the support portion of the anchoring member, and is held in position by the outside of its anchoring lip, and the upper end of a fascia or the inner side wall of a gutter is formed into a lip that may be engaged over and suspended from the inside of said anchoring lip.

This is a division of US. patent application Ser. No. 627,877 filed on Apr. 3, 1967 for Arrangements for Installing Fascias, Gravel Stop and Gutters Along the Edges of Roofs, now US. Patent No. 3,432,976 issued on Mar. 18, 1969.

The present invention relates to the metal structures that are provided along the edges of roofs to contain gravel, protect the roof edge against water penetration and shield, or improve the appearance of, the uppermost area of the side walls of buildings. Such structures are know as gravel stops and fascias, respectively. These structures are difiicult to install; they have to be nailed in place and to secure them dependably in their proper positions is time-consuming, and requires the work of skilled workmen and is therefore costly.

It is an object of my invention to simplify the installation of the named metal structures along the edges of roofs and thus reduce the time and cost of such installations.

It is yet another object of my invention to provide an arrangement for installing the named structures, that can be handled by unskilled labor.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement for installing the named structures in such a manner that they may readily be dismounted for exchange and/or repair.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement for installing the named structures, that requires no nails or like fastening means for holding the installed structures in their proper position so that said structures are free to expand and contract with changing weather conditions, without warping, and without cracking or otherwise damaging the portions of roof and wall, which they are designed to protect.

These and other objects of the present invention will 3,501,873 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 be apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment thereof.

In accordance with the invention I provide anchoring members that may readily be secured by unskilled labor in juxtaposition along the upper marginal areas of the side walls of a building. These anchoring members are shaped in such a manner that gravel stops, fascias and even gutters with appropriately shaped marginal areas may readily be engaged over them and when so engaged are dependably, yet detachably held in their proper positions without being nailed in place.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of an anchoring member constructed in accordance with my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary vertical section through the upper end of a flat-roofed building provided with an anchoring member of my invention, and shows a gravel stop strip formed in accordance with the invention engaged over said member;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary vertical section through the upper end of a building similar to FIGURE 2 and shows both a gravel stop strip and a fascia formed in accordance with my invention held in their proper positions by the anchoring member of my invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary vertical section similar to FIGURES 2 and 3 illustrating a gutter formed in accordance with my invention and held in position by the anchoring member of my invention.

In FIGURES 2 and 3 the numeral 10 designates a substantially flat roof deck which may be of wood or any other suitable building material. Arranged adjacent its front edge are nailing blocks or strips 12 which may be suitably supported from the upper end of a concrete wall 14 (FIGURE 3). Placed upon the top surface of the roof deck 10 and of blocks 12 are several layers of pitchcovered roofing paper 16, and adjacent the outer surface of the outer one of said blocks the lowermost paper layer is bent about the edges of the upper layers and is folded back upon the uppermost layer. Secured in juxtaposition to the outer surface of the outer nailing block 12 adjacent the upper edge thereof are sections of the anchoring member 20 of my invention. Said members may be made from sheet metal, extruded metal or plastic material. Each member comprises a flat apron-like bracket portion 22 through which it is secured to the blocks 12 by means of nails or screws such as shown at 18. At its upper end said bracket portion forms an outwardly turned neck portion 26 that rises at a blunt angle relative to the bracket portion to a level that is about as high as the uppermost layer of roofing paper 16. Secured to the end of said neck portion portion is a support portion 28 in the form of a vertically disposed strip. Said strip 28 forms a horizontally disposed, longitudinally extending upper edge 30 which constitutes a support means for the gravel stop 34. A distance below the neck portion 26 the strip 28 is bent inwardly and upwardly at an acute angle relative to the vertical plane defined by its main body portion to form a lip 32 which terminates a distance in front of the bracket portion 22. Said lip 32 forms the anchoring means which holds the gravel stop 34 dependably in its proper position while it is positively supported from below by the described supporting edge 30.

For cooperation with the anchoring member 20 the outer marginal areas of gravel stops are of such conformation that they may be engaged over and held in position by said anchoring member without the use of nails or other fastening means. The gravel stop strip 34 illustrated in FIGURE 1 may be of sheet metal, extruded metal or plastic material, and comprises a flat apron or body portion 36 which is intended to overlie, and rest upon the uppermost layer of roofing paper. In the direction toward the edge of the roof the strip 34 forms an obliquely rising slope 38 which performs as the gravel stop proper in that it contains any gravel 40 that may have been deposited upon the uppermost layer of roofing paper and onto its apron or body portion 36. The sloping area 38 of the gravel strip 34 continues with a horizontally disposed area '42 which is intended to rest upon and be positively supported by the edges 30 of the row of anchoring members secured in juxtaposition to the blocks 12. Directly behind said edge the gravel stop strip is bent downwardly to form a vertically disposed front portion 44. This latter portion 44 forms along its bottom an inwardly turned lip 46 whose upwardly slanted terminal fiange fits over and lies flatly against the anchoring lips 32 of the support strips 28. A gravel stop strip 34 with its marginal area formed as described and as shown in FIGURE 1 is easily engaged over the support strips 28 of the anchoring members even by unskilled labor in the manner shown in phantom lines in said FIGURE 1; and when in the position shown in full lines in said FIG- URE 1, it is dependably held in its proper position, even when subjected to heavy gusts of winds, without need for nails or other fastening means; and the edges 30 of the anchoring members support and protect its marginal areas against unsightly buckling, cave-ins and other deformations, such as may be caused by careless workmen walking upon the horizontal area 42 thereof, or leaning ladders against the edge formed between said horizontal area 36 and the external vertical area 44 of the gravel stop strip; and a workman may install the gravel stop strip of the invention in the described manner in less than one-fifth of the time required for installing gravel stop strips in the conventional manner.

In addition to the advantages of the anchoring members of the invention in installing gravel stop strips, these members also make it possible to mount with equal ease fascias and gutters along the upper edges of building walls directly below the roof. Having reference to FIGURE 3, the upper end of a fascia 50, constructed in accordance with my invention, is provided with an outwardly turned flange 52 that has a first horizontally disposed area 54, i.e. an area extending outwardly at right angles relative to the main body of the fascia, and a terminal area 56 that slants downwardly at a blunt angle relatively to said horizontal area. By inserting the flange 52 into the space between the bracket portion 22 of the anchoring member 20 and the edge of the inwardly turned flange 32 of its support member 28 in the manner shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 3, the fascia of my invention may easily be installed in its proper position without requiring any great skill.

To hold the fascias, once installed, in their roper positions flat against the outer block 12, their bottom ends may be turned backwardly in the manner of a hair pin to form channels 57. These channels are engaged by the downwardly directed, vertically disposed flange 58 of a cleat strip 59 that forms along its opposite edge an upwardly directed flange 60 which is secured to the back surface of the inner one of the nailing blocks 12 in the conventional manner.

Thus, the anchoring members of my invention make it easy to install both gravel stop strips and fascias. On the other hand, should it become desirable to dismount the fascia 50 or the gravel stop strip 34 for the purpose of exchange or when the necessity arises to repair the wall or the roof, it is a simple matter for the workman to disengage both the fascia and the gravel stop strip and to 4 re-install them, or their replacements, as the case may be, since neither of them has been nailed into place.

FIGURE 4 illustrates how the principles of my invention may be employed with equal advantage for installing a gutter 61 under and along the edge of the roof 10. For this purpose the inner side wall 62 of the gutter is provided with a flange 64 shaped in the same manner as the flange 52 formed along the upper end of the fascia apron 50 shown in FIGURE 3. Said flange 64 has a first horizontal area 66 which continues into a downwardly slanted terminal area 68. It is engaged with, and suspended from, the anchoring flange 32 of the support portion 28 of the anchor member in the same manner as the flange 52 of the fascia 50, as shown in FIGURE 4. When said flange 64 is engaged over the lip 62 of the support portion 28 of anchoring member 34, with its horizontally disposed portion 66 resting upon the terminal edge of said lip 32 and its downwardly slanting area reaching into the bight portion of said lip and its terminal edge bearing against said lip within said bight portion, and with the inner side wall 62 of the gutter flat against the apron-shaped bracket portion 22 of the anchoring member, no nails or screws are required to hold the gutter securely in place, and the gutter will not flap away from the apron 22 of said anchoring member in spite of heavy gust of wind. The absence of nails or screws for fastening the gutter to the apron of the bracket member allows both the gutter and the bracket member to expand and contract with changing weather conditions, without exerting potentially destructive warping strains on each other and/ or the wall and roof portions which they are designed to protect.

I claim:

1. The combination of an anchoring member having a bracket portion for attachment to the upper end of a wall, said bracket portion having an upper end, a neck portion at the upper end of said bracket portion extending in a direction away from the wall, and having an end removed from said bracket portion, and secured to the end of said neck portion, a strip-shaped support portion extending above and below said neck portion and having along its bottom an inwardly turned upwardly slanting anchoring lip terminating with its edge a distance in front of said bracket portion; with a gutter comprising a vertically disposed wall located adjacent the bracket portion of said anchoring member and extending into the space between said bracket portion and the terminal edge of said anchoring lip, and having along its upper end within the space defined by said anchoring lip an outwardly turned flange.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the outwardly turned flange of said gutter has a first horizontally disposed area resting upon the terminal edge of said lip, and adjoining said area a downwardly slanted area, extending toward the bight portion of said anchoring lip and having a terminal edge bearing against said lip within the bight portion thereof.

3. The combination of an anchoring member having a bracket portion for attachment to a wall, said bracket portion having an upper end, a neck portion at the upper end of said bracket portion extending in a direction away from said upper bracket portion and having an end removed from said bracket portion, and secured to the upper end of said neck portion a strip-shaped support portion extending above and below said neck portion and having along its bottom an inwardly turned upwardly slanting anchoring lip terminating with its edge a distance in front of said bracket portion; with a fascia comprising a vertically disposed body portion located adjacent said bracket portion and extending into the space between said bracket portion and the terminal edge of said anchoring lip, said body portion having along its upper end within the space defined by said lip an outwardly turned flange comprising a first horizontally disposed portion bearing against the terminal edge of said lip and adjoining said first portion a downwardly slanting second portion extending toward the bight area of said lip and having a terminal edge bearing against said lip within said bight portion thereof.

4. An arrangement according to claim 3 wherein said fascia forms along its bottom end a narrow channel located on the side opposite to said flange thereof, and including means slidably engaged in said channel for holding the bottom end of said fascia against the wall.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,394,403 10/1921 B011 52---11 X 1,419,287 6/ 1922 Maxwell 5260 1,884,259 10/1932 Rose 5260 Weil 52-61 Hanson 5260 Hovey 5211 Swanson 5258 X Edwards 52-62 Gobel 5260X Berg 52-60 HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner 10 S. D. BURKE III, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

